Why Are Railway Tracks Buckling In Britain? Know The Reason And Why Services Have To Be Stopped

With temperatures expected to reach record highs across the UK, the public transport network faces a big challenge. Rail routes across England, Scotland and Wales are already experiencing delays, cancellations, and a further increase in mercury could bring the entire network to a standstill. While countries with extreme temperatures are able to maintain and operate their rail networks, why do trains get cancelled when the temperatures reach north of 30 degree Celsius in the UK?

As per Network Rail, abnormally high temperatures can cause steel rails across the network to buckle. During a summer heatwave, rails in direct sunlight can be up to 20 degrees Celsius hotter than the air temperature.

"Because rails are made from steel, they expand as they get hotter, and can start to curve. This is known as buckling," Network Rail explained.

Most of the network can operate when track temperatures hit up to 46 degree Celsius. However, with temperatures in parts of the UK set to hit 32 degree Celsius this weekend, parts of the rails may start to buckle.

When the remote monitoring systems detect that a section of track might be expanding too much, the authorities are forced to introduce local speed restrictions. Slower trains exert lower forces on the track, reducing the chance of buckling.

However, despite slowing the trains, the railway lines can still buckle. When this happens, the entire line is closed and repaired before trains can run again. This closure causes cancellations and inevitable delays.

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40 degrees Celsius summer

Earlier this week, the Met Office warned that the UK is now 20 times more likely to witness 40 degrees Celsius heat than it was in the 1960s.

"Because our climate continues to warm, we can expect the chance [of 40 C heat] to keep rising. We estimate a 50-50 chance of seeing a 40 C day again in the next 12 years," Dr Gillian Kay, lead author of a Met Office study into heatwaves, told Metro.

"We also found that temperatures several degrees higher than we saw in July 2022 are possible in today's climate."

She warned that the UK must 'prepare for even higher heat extremes in the near future'. When UK temperatures went over 40C for the first time that year, it was seen as a shocking outlier.